CCA DR Blog Post #7

La! Good ideas~I'm not sure that I ever have any of those:)

If I did have one, it would have come about 4-6 hours ago as my best working times are between 1 am - 4 am. As Steven Johnson points out, ideas emerge slowly over time and even though people love to talk about an "Aha!" or "Eureka!" moment, there are really mini "Ahas!" for a while until a strong idea solidifies. For me there is always lots of deliberation, lots of moving into wrong directions and testing out hypotheses until something clear and emergent begins to take shape. Sometimes I have to step back from the situation, do something mindless like watch an episode of a TV Show or simply just lie down on my bed and try to shut out distractions so I can focus on what I'm thinking about. If I fall asleep, I hope that I at least vaguely remember my thought process when I wake.

In a work environment obviously you can't really lie on your bed or watch TV, so previously working as a textile designer, those actions would translate into looking at blogs for inspiration, spending time in fabric stores and the like, or just playing around with fabrics and shapes on my work table (everyone in our studio had a work table where you could play with your designs and ideas). And generally a direction would emerge, perhaps not an "Aha!" direction but certainly a path would begin to show itself. Often in making or designing, you have to play around with several idea and processes before something successful emerges, similar to what Steven Johnson said about there being a sort of process and evolution (no pun intended in reference to Darwin) to your idea(s). I've never had a perfect idea suddenly spring forth from my head. It usually evolves over time, through process and experimentation, and is often informed by my education or areas/ideas that I already find interesting and inspiring. Coming up with a good idea feels like an organic process, almost like tending a garden. You begin with a small seed and you have to cultivate and add nutrients and water to that seed for it to emerge as something lovely and useful.